Empowering your palate: Grilled sea bass with orange, fennel, beetroot and onion salad

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  With the RAF Mildenhall's "Empowering your palate" initiative growing in popularity, a local chef wrote in with his own recipe to fill the kitchen with a pleasant aroma this weekend.

Chef Serge Neale, The Golden Boar in Freckenham, invites Mildenhall website viewers to try what he called a, "light and refreshing meal ideal for a warm summer's evening, or as a fish course as part of a barbeque."

According to the chef, the dish combines superb seasonal ingredients, and readers may wish to serve it with Jersey Royal potatoes, which are fantastic at this time of year.

"It is simple to prepare and cook, but is sure to impress!" exclaimed the chef.

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 6 minutes
Portions: 4

Ingredients:
· 4 fillets sea bass, cut each fillet in half
· 2 medium sized oranges, segment one orange, then zest and juice the other
· 4 cooked beetroot, diced
· 1 small fennel, finely sliced
· 1 onion, finely sliced
· 1 tablespoon (20 ml) chopped chives
· 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
· Salt and pepper

Method:
1. In a bowl mix the sliced onion and fennel with the orange segments, zest and juice and add two table spoons of olive oil. Allow the salad to marinade and infuse for 20 minutes.
2. Pre-heat the grill on a medium to high heat.
3. Season the sea bass on both sides with salt and pepper and lay it skin side up on a tray then drizzle with two table spoons of olive oil. Grill the sea bass for six minutes until the skin is crispy.
4. While the sea bass is cooking mix the chives and beetroot into the marinated salad and put onto a plate. Lay the sea bass fillets on top of the bed of salad then serve and enjoy!

Chef Serge's tip:
"Use a toothpick to check if the fish is cooked by placing the toothpick into the thickest part of the fish. If it glides through then it is cooked, but if there is any resistance it isn't and needs more time under the grill."

Editor's note: No federal endorsement intended or implied.